1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network scanner. More particularly, the present invention relates to a network scanner and a method of organizing and maintaining a network scanning system, which makes a list of users who are currently connected to the network scanner and automatically maintains the users connections to the network scanner even when an Internet protocol (IP) address of the network scanner changes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In generally, a scanner or a multifunctional device, into which a scanner, a photocopier, and a printer are integrated, is connected to a plurality of computers so that it can be shared by the plurality of computers. In order to scan a document using a conventional scanner, a network scanning system used to be organized by installing an additional data storage server in the conventional scanner. This type of conventional network scanning system has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,223.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional network scanning system. Referring to FIG. 1, a scanner 100 is connected to a server 300, and the server 300 is connected to a computer 200, thereby forming a network. For the sake of convenience, only one scanner and only one computer are illustrated in FIG. 1. However, a plurality of scanners and a plurality of computers may be connected to one another via the server 300 to form a network. Users register their accounts with the server 300 in advance so that a list of the users can be registered with and stored in the server 300.
In order for a user to scan a document, the user should log on to the scanner 100 using his/her registered ID. Once the document is successfully scanned, the scanned data is stored in the user's account registered with the server 300. The user accesses the server 300 again using his/her computer, searches for the scanned data, and makes a copy of the scanned data into his/her computer, thereby completing the entire scanning process. This type of scanning process, however, has the following disadvantages. First, since many users share the scanner 100, they have to go to the scanner 100 to check whether the scanner 100 is available. Second, if one of the users goes to the scanner 100 to scan a document and realizes that another user is currently scanning a document using the scanner 100, he/she has to wait near the scanner 100 until another user completes his/her current scanning process or has to leave the scanner 100 for a moment and go back to the scanner 100 after a while, which is inconvenient and wastes time. Third, after completing the scanning process, a user has to re-access the server 300 with his/her computer, which is also inconvenient. Fourth, it costs a lot of money to assemble the conventional network system because the conventional network system requires an additional storage device, such as, the server 300. Finally, in the case where information on the scanner 100 has changed, a user may not be able to instantly know about the change(s). In particular, in a case where an IP address of the scanner 100 has changed, the user may not be able to access the server 300. Thus, the user cannot make a copy of scanned data stored in the server 300 into his/her computer.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a network scanner that automatically maintains the users' connections to the network scanner even when an Internet protocol (IP) address of the network scanner changes.